James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is known for its controversial use of prose. Some argue that the beautiful language diminishes the horrors of Depression-era poverty, and many passages are tricked out with weighty, literary terms that arguably distract from the subject at hand. You could have your students excise all of Agee's verbosity to make his accounts more immediate.posted by zoomorphic at 10:10 AM on October 17, 2009

"Like any child, I slid into myself perfectly fitted, as a diver meets her reflection in a pool. Her fingertips enter the fingertips on the water, her wrists slide up her arms. The diver wraps herself in her reflection wholly, sealing it at the toes, and wears it as she climbs rising from the pool and ever after."

Annie Dillard, "An American Childhood", page 11.posted by Beardman at 10:59 AM on October 17, 2009

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